Unsolicited Battery Charger Advice

[Marshall Mahoney]

I have 3 batteries feeding 3 bilge pumps. Seemed logical at the time to install a 3 bank charger. I just had my second battery charger failure. This time around, I put in 3 separate single bank chargers. That way I can have 2 failures and still keep my boat floating. Also, the chargers are from 3 different manufactures. Will see which one is the most reliable. Just saying...

[Preston Burrows]

Good one Marshall, that's what today's disposable world drives common sense people to! Keep us posted as to what with the 3 different chargers!

[Tony Meola]

Marshall,

Have you tried Charles?

Great idea, just that t 3 chargers eat up a lot of mounting real estate, but I like the idea.

[Snipe]

https://www.mastervolt.com/products/battery-chargers/
I have had great luck with these charges on the yachts I worked on they have good customer service and are repairable.

[Joseph Fikentscher]

I have this, works great.
https://www.promariner.com/en/63140

[jackryan]

Marshall,

Sounds like a great plan to me. Which 3 battery chargers did you go with?

JR

[Marshall Mahoney]

One was a 6 amp Minn Kota, and one was a 6 amp Powermania. I shopped around and E-bay was the cheapest. The third was a cheap 1.5 amp charger (can't remember the name) for my back-up battery. All three are mounted near my selector switches -- plenty of room. Not sure if you are looking for high output chargers - the small ones work fine for me. I would stay away from Noco Genius -- I have one on my flatboat that boiled 2 trolling motor batteries.

[mike ohlstein]

Agree on Noco, but I am using CTEK smart chargers on my ATV and home generator with no problems. I do have them on timers...... I run them every other day for 12 hours.

[Stephan]

You have had bad experiences with Noco?
I have had a Noco Gen 1 10 amp single bank charger for several years. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JSHQW0/re ... yFb4N7REC7
It's charging 2 Group 31 AGM batteries (105 AH each) and have had good luck though it does take some time to recharge.
Anything I should be watching for?
Best,
Stephan

[mike ohlstein]

I have only used smaller chargers, but have boiled some ATV batteries with Noco. That's why I switched to CTEK. I have one that is a lithium battery charger (I use them with electric reels) and two that have been in service for several years in the shed.

[pschauss]

Nearing the end of my third season with my boat and I have yet to use the onboard battery charger which came with my boat. The boat came with two group 27 batteries. One of them is deep cycle and the other dual purpose. The batteries are at least three years only and, based on receipts that I have, could be as old as six or nine years.
Whoever installed them did not bother to punch out the date on the labels. The receipts from 2011 and 2014 just say "battery".

The only electronics that I have are a VHF, Humminbird fish finder, and a GPS chart plotter which I use without the transducer, so I am not putting much load on the batteries while I run. So far the batteries have always had enough power to start the engines.

Is there anything that I should be doing differently?

[Carl]

Gent I bought my boat from had it for 12 years without a battery charger or automatic bilge pump. Well thats kind of a lie, he had them when he bought the boat and removed.
Unless your drawing on the batteries or in a rain prone area, heavy water drip from packing, leak etc where pumps cylce often, a charger is not a necessity.

Use the boat and enjoy. Your use of the boat will allow alternators to keep batteries topped off...just like your car.

[Marshall Mahoney]

Must be two schools of thoughts on the need for battery chargers. If you use/check on your boat a couple of times per week, I can see your point of not needing a charger. My boat is 1-1/2 hours away and sometimes I go 2+ weeks without making it down to check on it. I think it is crucial to have batteries that are in good shape, battery chargers, and redundancy built in somewhere along the line. Plus if you are self-insured like me, 3 batteries, 3 chargers and 3 bilge pumps seems prudent... Ever have to jumpstart your car???

[Tony Meola]

I am not running a battery charger, but I have doubled up group 31's for starting each of the engines and I have two bilge pumps off of them. Then I have one House battery. I know the battery set up is over kill but it was done because at the time of the repower a local boat had an electrical problem and drifted in the canyon for 3 days before they were found. We figured with that set up we would always be able to at least get one engine started as they all can be brought online to start one engine if needed.

[Tooeez]

I had/have the same problem with the Noco Genius 2 bank charger--it just never stops charging. I replaced my original charger a few years ago with the Noco, and from day one it never showed a full charge on either bank--it just keeps charging. (the batteries are not the issue--less than 3 years old, no dead cells, proper voltage, hold a charge for weeks, etc) I seldom need the charger, so I just leave it off most of the time. I reported the problem to Noco, and they sent me a replacement. It does exactly the same thing. I have thought that maybe the problem is the way I installed the charger. I don't like having individual wires connected to battery terminals, so I did not connect the charger wires direct to the batteries as the instructions direct. Instead I connected each positive lead from the charger to the line side of each bank's battery shut off switch--it seems to me that it is the same as having the wire right on the terminal. I connected the negative leads for bank 1 and bank 2 from the charger to a common negative terminal I installed next to the charger. That terminal is connected with a #10 wire directly to the starboard engine ground. The boat came from the factory with a cable connecting the port engine ground to the starboard engine ground, so it seems to me that the boat has a common ground--no matter where I make a ground connection it all goes to the same place, and all the negative terminals on the boats' batteries--I have 4--are connected together all the time. I can't see any difference in placing the negative charger lead direct to the negative battery terminal, or to another terminal that is directly connected to the negative battery terminal. Does anybody think that the way I installed the charger could cause the overcharging issue?

[Marshall Mahoney]

tooeez -- I would put money on a bad Noco charger. My Noco on my flatboat is about a year old. One trolling motor battery is older (about 4 years) but one is 1+ years. Boiled 1/2 the water out of both of them. I refilled them and ran them thru a reconditioning cycle on my portable charger. Both batteries checked good at about 12.5 volts. Hooked up the Noco again and no apparent problems for 4 months or so ( I never checked to see it the charger was cutting off when batteries were full, but I think not) -- then dead batteries again with 1/2 the water boiled out. Filled and reconditioned again (reconditioning really seems to work) and have been using my portable charger for a few months with no loss of water. Portable charger cuts off when battery is fully charged. I have read reviews with similar issues. No more Noco for me!